Frank Lampard has spoken publicly for the first time about his dispute with Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas over his lack of starts at the club this season.

And Lampard admitted that their relationship — perceived by many to be fractured — is ‘not ideal’ and that there have been ‘certain issues’ between the manager and some players this season.

Pure delight… and relief: Andre Villas-Boas was defiant after Chelsea got back to winning ways with a comfortable win at home to Bolton

His comments came on a day when
Lampard, restored to the side and made captain, produced a
man-of-the-match performance and scored his 150th Premier League goal
for Chelsea in a 3-0 win over Bolton.

Speaking about his relationship with
Villas-Boas, Lampard said: ‘I think, from the outside, you can probably
see that it’s not been ideal but the important thing is not to focus on
individual relationships too much. It can only be negative and people do
like to play on negatives.

Deal with it: Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole were benched in Italy

Remember me: Captain for the day Frank Lampard put the icing on the cake

‘There have been certain issues.
Certain players, we don’t like not to play. But it’s never a case of
players throwing their toys out of the pram to the detriment of the
club.

'I’ve been here a long time, I’m 33,
I’m realistic. It doesn’t mean I want to play every game but, if I sit
on the bench, I want to see Chelsea win.

‘I’m sure we’re all frustrated at the
minute, everyone who’s involved, especially people who have got Chelsea
in their hearts, who have been here a long time and want to see us
performing as we should do.

‘The only way we can push on from now
and secure Champions League football next year, potentially move
through in the FA Cup and the Champions League this year, is to be
positive. It’s in the club’s interest.

'It’s not about any one individual here and negative things can take the shine off it’.

Silencing the doubters: David Luiz proved himself a valuable member of the team with the opening goal

Seal of approval : Roman Abramovich stopped in to check on his team

Saturday’s victory buys Villas-Boas
more time at the club after Rafael Benitez was sounded out last week
about taking over his job until the end of the season.

Chelsea’s manager executed a
selection U-turn by restoring Lampard to the first team and making him
captain as well as bringing back Michael Essien and Ashley Cole. All
three were controversially left out of the 3-1 Champions League defeat
in Napoli last week, omissions which caused deep concern among the
players.

Villas-Boas insisted that he had not felt that he had needed to win yesterday to save his job.